Youth Entrepreneurship, Employability and Careers Project

by Startacus Admin

Enterprise North West and Startacus collaborate with a group of students from NWRC to create Week Gen-C, a part- employability, part-career and part-entrepreneurship focused digital project & channel

The pandemic has affected us all but young people have been particularly hard hit by the impact it has had on both their education and employment prospects.

In a bid to mitigate this, and through support provided by CFNI & the David Cross Young Peoples fund two North-West NI based organisations, Enterprise North West and Startacus came together with a group of students from NWRC to create Week Gen-C, a part- employability, part-career and part-entrepreneurship focused digital project & channel. Week Gen-C aims to inform local young people and indeed anyone whose career has been affected by the global pandemic about the skills and tools they will need within this new economy as well as to inspire them about the range of opportunities that can and do exist.

The channel features a series of panel discussions and interviews with leading employers including Learning Pool, Alchemy Technology and Fin Tru, local businesses Hypixel Studios, UV Arts, Storefront, Ferry Clever as well as support organisations including Young Enterprise NI, Extern, NWRC Careers Academy, Derry Credit Union, Careers & Employment Services and AWARE.

The panels and interviews cover a range of topics including employability, career pathways, upskilling and entrepreneurship as well as personal and soft-skills development, finance and mental health.

Brian O’Neill, Director of Development and Enterprise, Enterprise North West, commented: “The overall Week Gen-C project has exceeded our expectations and this has been mainly achieved through the hard work and creativity of the steering group of young people involved in the series of events right from the beginning. These events have been designed, produced and delivered by young people and have taken into account the negative impact of Covid-19 and the pandemic on young people’s prospects. We firmly believe that these series of events could be upscaled or replicated across NI to inspire other young people”.

Alastair Cameron, Co-founder of Startacus, added: “We’ve all been affected by the pandemic, but it has been even more challenging for our young people so it’s vital that we all do our bit to help them to look forward and to inspire and encourage them to reach their true potential. We’ve been delighted to partner with Enterprise North West on the Week Gen-C project and we have been hugely impressed by the creativity, commitment and dedication shown by the students from NWRC in bringing the entire project to fruition”.

The live events took place virtually over 4 weeks during May and June and where broadcast & streamed on YouTube and other social media channels. The Week Gen-C recordings are now available to view on the Week Gen-C You Tube channel. Feel free to subscribe to the channel to be kept up to date with other similar projects.

The Week Gen-C project is funded through the David Cross Young People's Fund, a partnership between the Community Foundation, the Department for Communities and the David Cross Foundation. 

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Published on: 21st June 2021